Becoming Kid Flash
by WindyWords123
Summary: Wally West's idiotic attempt at gaining superspeed, and how it actually worked out.


_This was originally posted on the YJ anon meme, but I stupidly lost track of the prompt. _

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><p>The cutest seven year old you'll ever see stared up at his uncle, all too adoring. "<em>Really<em>?" He breathed. "_You're_ the Flash?"

Barry Allen nodded seriously. "Yes, and it's a big, big secret. You can't tell _anyone_, or else all the bad guys will come and hurt your Aunty Iris and your parents and even _you _to get back at me for foiling all their schemes."  
>"I can take them!" Wally declared, puffing up his chest proudly. Then he deflated. "B..but I can't tell <em>anyone<em>? Not even my bestest best friend?"

Barry laughed. "No, not even your bestest best friend. Now get into bed and I'll tell you about when I fought a bad guy for the very first time..."  
>Eyes shining, Wally complied, knowing that someday, he was gonna be <em>just like <em>his very favoritest uncle.

~(0)~

Wally never really abandoned his idea of being a superhero. For the next two years, he just kind of... put it on hold.

Then, one day, searching for a few chemicals for his science fair project, (Wally was a budding chemist) Wally spotted the name of a chemical he thought he'd heard about once.

He stared at the screen, brow furrowed. He _knew _he'd heard about it before, but he couldn't quite think of-

Oh. _Oh_. His uncle had mentioned it once, hadn't he? Hadn't that been one of the chemicals that had changed him?

And an idea bloomed. If he could just wheedle enough information out of his uncle – and the net had to have _some_ info, right? – he could _do _it. Could finally live his dream.

~(0)~

It took him two years of subtly poking and prodding and checking his facts and making sure and searching and saving his allowance before Wally had identified and gotten a hold of everything he needed.

He was eleven and _ready. _At first, all this had been about being like his uncle, but in Wally's mind, it wasn't really like that anymore.

He'd had a pretty great life. Sure, his parents weren't the richest or anything, but he loved his parents and that was what really mattered. Yeah, totally mushy, but true. But he didn't live in the _best _neighborhood (Keystone definitely wasn't Gotham, but there were criminals everywhere) and a couple of times he'd seen some not-so-good stuff.

So Wally wanted to be able to help, but there was no way his uncle would let him unless he did this. It was stupid, but he _wanted to help_ and Uncle Barry wouldn't really understand otherwise.

Now it was finally happening and Wally was a bit, well, nervous. There were a _ton _of abandoned buildings near his house so he'd 'claimed' one, which was where he stashed anything he'd actually gotten hold of and where he stored his notes.

According to everything he'd checked and checked and _checked _over the last two years, this should work. Hopefully. Wally's logical mind had told him that the chances of actually getting a lightning bolt were suspiciously close to zero, so instead he had rewired a few things so now, hopefully, his weird adapted mutated machine thing (because Wally was eleven and yes, he was a genius, but mostly about science and that totally did not include machines) would give him a big enough shock that it would work.

Taking a deep breath, Wally moved the chemicals so they'd splash all over him when he got shocked – if it happened before he'd probably die –

And then, in an utterly strange twist of fate, lightning inexplicably hit the old TV antenna on top of Wally's 'base', jumped to the metal roof, through the metal shelf – and hit Wally West straight on.

All he had time to think was "Huh, what are the chances?" before he blacked out from the searing, white-hot pain.

~(0)~

Wally awoke to incredibly angry blue eyes.

"Whaaaaaaaaattt weeeerrrrrreeee yoooooooouuuu _thiiiiinnkiiiinnnggg_?" He heard. Wally winced. "What was that?" He muttered, but ended up choking and practically hacking up a lung.

"I _said_," someone hissed, and some foggy part of Wally's brain that wasn't writhing in agony because oh god he _ached_ identified it as his uncle, "What were you thinking?"

Wally winced. Well, at least it was at normal speed now. That didn't make the message much better, though. He thought he might have liked it better the first time, even.

As he drifted back towards the welcoming blackness of unconsciousness with Uncle Barry still ranting at him, Wally wondered vaguely exactly _what _he had done to make his uncle so angry.

~(0)~

When he awoke for the second time, his head was _much _clearer, although he _still _kind of felt like his body was going to fall apart any minute now. And he had a headache. A really really _bad _headache.

Still, being more awake wasn't necessarily a _good _thing, because now he could comprehend three things:

First, his uncle was insanely mad at him.

Second, his parents were probably just as mad.

And third... Ohmygodohmygod it actually _worked! _Or at the very least he wasn't dead.

"Waitwaitwait." Wally interrupted his uncle, who had started ranting again the moment he had realized Wally was awake again. "I _do _have superspeed, right?"

Uncle Barry glared at him. "Yes, and you could have died in your quest to get it!"

"It was an _accident_!" Wally said. At his uncle's continued glare and sarcastic "Oh, really? So you just _happened upon _dozens of dangerous chemicals that combined, will, guess what, give you superspeed, just like me?" he said, "Well, okay, it totally wasn't, but I wasn't expecting the lightning. Really."

He looked at his uncle, eyes pleading, and started to ask, "So can I-"

"NO." Wally looked up, eyes wide. His uncle sounded really and truly furious. "You tell me why I should _reward _someone who endangered his life, _planned _to do this, even, on the _off chance_ that he might survive and acquire superspeed! _Tell me why _I should train someone that reckless, that _stupid_, to help me _save lives_, when he's _idiotic_ enough to risk his own!"

Wally shrank back. "But.." He whispered, "I just wanted to _help_..."

~(0)~

Wally could tell that his parents were just as furious as his uncle, if not more so, but he literally couldn't understand their angry reprisals. They just talked so _slow_. When they tried to speak faster, _sometimes _he could get what they were saying... but overall it was just incomprehensible gibberish.

He was in his uncle's upstate flat in Central City. Regardless of the fact that his uncle was still utterly furious with him and absolutely _refused _to let him even _ask _to be his sidekick, He was still teaching him to control his newfound speed. Not _use _it, but control it. "You have to be able to blend into normal society, after all." He'd said once, early on. It had stung.

But after a few months, when he could finally understand his parents on a regular basis and speak slowly enough that they could understand him, too, Wally finally got a chance to face his uncle.

"Uncle Barry," He said, as slowly as he could to show him how much progress he had made, "I want to talk to you."

Barry turned to face him, looking somewhat aloof but not furious and strained, as he had for the first few weeks. "You _could _probably stop me," He started, because he knew it was true, "But...I'm like you now. I'm a speedster, whether you like it or not, regardless of how I got my powers, and I want to help. Even before, I wanted to... I mean, I've _always _wanted to be like you, so it was that, but I wanted to help people too, and... I don't really have any reason why you _should _let me help you, but... would you reconsider anyway?"

He looked at the ground, face flushed. He'd sped up as he went along, and he really expected to be rebutted. Hours and hours of solid ranting had drilled it into his mind that what he had done _had _been stupid, but he wanted this more than he had ever wanted _anything_...

So he was surprised to be wrapped into a long hug. "Oh, Wally," His uncle said, "Of _course_ I will."He pulled back. "Strict kitten-saving duty until I can trust you again, though." He said sternly.

Wally's brilliant smile could have outshone the sun – or even a flash of lightning.


End file.
